Miles Davis

Some people would rather forget 2008. The jazz fan, however, has definite cause to look back fondly at the year that was. As such, here are my picks for the top 10 jazz recordings of 2008:

1, “Miles From India,” Miles From India (Four Quarters)

The brainchild of Grammy Award-winning composer-arranger Bob Belden, “Miles From India” is a brilliant cross-cultural exploration of the music of Miles Davis. It features more than 30 musicians, drawn equally from the world of Indian classical music and the long list of former Davis sidemen, yet the huge ensemble moves with strikingly singular purpose. Utilizing both tabla and trumpet, sitar and soprano sax, the players weave together jazz, rock and world music so fluidly that the only apt description is “fusion,” a kind that that put this album “Miles” ahead of the competition last year.

2, “Live,” Brad Mehldau Trio (Nonesuch)

As long as Mehldau keeps putting out records, I really only have to worry about coming up with nine selections for my annual top 10 list. That’s because, for my money, the pianist is the most consistently impressive musician in jazz and his records always rank among the finest of the year. It’s the same story with “Live,” a thoroughly entertaining two-disc concert set that features a ravishing mix of originals, standards and modern pop tunes. What the trio accomplishes with the latter is particularly astounding: Believe it or not, Mehldau’s version of Soundgarden’s grunge-rock classic “Black Hole Sun” is one of the best jazz recordings I heard in 2008.

3, “Invisible Baby,” Marco Benevento (Hyena)

I’ve liked everything I’ve heard by this 31-year-old keyboardist. He’s currently best known for his superb work with drummer Joe Russo in the duo Benevento/Russo, but his solo career is really starting to take off as well. He follows 2007’s excellent concert offering “Live at Tonic” with this assured, mature studio debut. The eight-song set is modern and experimental, yet still accessible, and should appeal to both city-slick jazz hipsters and Radiohead fans.

4, “Blue Crescent,” Dr. Michael White (Basin Street)

White, a man who ranks as nothing less than a national treasure, offers up another enjoyable history lesson. The sensational clarinetist and his crackerjack band, featuring Nicholas Payton on trumpet, handle a winning assortment of blues, hymns, dirges and dance-hall numbers and draw from a variety of styles, from 1920s jazz and brass-band music to New Orleans revival-style jazz and Caribbean folk music. The collection features a dozen original tunes, which is roughly 12 more than you’d find on most “traditional” jazz albums recorded in recent years, as well as the standards “St. Louis Blues” and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.”

5, “Beyond Standard,” Hiromi’s Sonicbloom (Telarc)

Hiromi Uehara is amazing in concert, an absolute fireball of energy, passion and ambition that can light up a jazz club like few others. Unfortunately, the young pianist’s work in the recording studio has rarely lived up to her efforts onstage. That’s not the case with “Beyond Standard.” What this fusion champ is able to do with “Caravan” and “My Favorite Things,” as well as other songs we’ve all heard a thousand times before, is breathtaking.

6, “Twilight World,” Marian McPartland (Concord)

The piano goddess has been in the jazz game for more than 70 years, which is an amazing enough feat. That McPartland, who turns 91 this year, can still conjure up a batch of tunes as lovely as what’s found on “Twilight World” is downright astonishing.

7, “Let It Come to You,” Taylor Eigsti (Concord)

There may come a day, and it could be right around the corner, when I tell someone that I used to live in Menlo Park and the person responds with “Oh, Menlo Park, that’s where Taylor Eigsti is from.” The already great story of this 24-year-old pianist-composer continues to blossom, thanks in large part to his sensational sophomore major-label release.

8, “Guitars,” McCoy Tyner (Half Note)

The legendary pianist teams with some of the genre’s best guitarists, including Bill Frisell and Marc Ribot, as well as the stellar rhythm section of bassist Ron Carter and drummer Jack DeJohnette on this fine set. What’s ironic, given the album title, is that the best numbers find Tyner, Carter and DeJohnette collaborating with banjo man Bela Fleck.

9, “Leucocyte,” Esbjorn Svensson Trio (Spamboolimbo)

On June 14, Svensson died in a tragic diving accident in Sweden. He was 44. Just how much the jazz world will miss the pianist is made plainly clear on this forward-thinking trio record.

10, “You Don’t Know Jacq,” Jacqui Naylor (Ruby Star)

The San Francisco-based artist, perhaps the greatest vocal treasure among the embarrassment of riches to be found in the Bay Area scene, delivers another winner. Her specialty is translating modern pop songs into jazz-speak, something she accomplishes remarkably well with R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion” and other familiar numbers this time around.

Miles Davis wouldâ€™ve dug this concert. The only change that he probably have wanted was in regard to the frontman: Miles wouldâ€™ve wanted that role so he could be the unquestionable star of the show.

As it turned out, however, Miles was the star.

The opening night concert of the 26th annual San Francisco Jazz Festival was a glorious celebration of the music of Mr. Davis. What made it so special was the irregular fashion in which those tunes were handled.

Davisâ€™ songbook is an integral part of modern-day jazz and one can hear his music performed by artists at clubs across the world on a nightly, perhaps hourly, basis. But not like it was performed on Friday night at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco.Continue Reading →

One of the things that the two share in common, however, is that Americans are no longer the only ones playing them _ and playing them quite well. The South Koreans won the gold and the Cubans took home the silver in baseball at the 2008 Summer Olympics, while the U.S. finished with the bronze.

Likewise, the battle for supremacy in the jazz world is getting hot and heavy. The Americans, no doubt, are still in the lead, but the race is clearly getting tighter all the time.

What we are seeing is the globalization of Americaâ€™s music. It may have born in New Orleans and raised in the clubs of such cities as New York and Chicago, as many historians have noted, but itâ€™s maturing in places all around the world.

Thankfully, you donâ€™t need an airline reservation to get a proper earful of whatâ€™s brewing in jazz on an international level _ all you need is some tickets for the San Francisco Jazz Festival. The 26th annual affair, scheduled for Oct. 3-Nov. 9 mostly at venues in San Francisco, features an amazing assortment of jazz musicians from around the world.Continue Reading →

For a half century, the Monterey Jazz Festival has been the genreâ€™s gold standard. With its 51st edition, which takes place Friday through Sunday, Monterey is ready to begin the push for platinum.

The event will feature some of jazz musicâ€™s biggest names, including Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Cassandra Wilson and Joshua Redman, as well as such young hot shots as Jamie Cullum, Anat Coen, Derek Trucks and Ryan Shaw. In all, some 500 artists are set to appear over the weekend on the festivalâ€™s nine stages.

I plan to be at the festival all three days. If I could only make one, however, it would definitely be Sunday. I really want to see what all the fuss is about with Cullum, who performs that afternoon. I havenâ€™t been overly impressed with his CDs, but people say that the young English pop-jazz star is amazing onstage.Continue Reading →

Local legend Dave Brubeck, stellar bassist-composer Charlie Haden, “free” jazz pioneer Cecil Taylor and award-winning songwriter Randy Newman are among the top acts set to perform at the 2008 San Francisco Jazz Festival.

Tickets for SFJAZZ’s 26th annual fall classic, which runs Oct. 3 through Nov. 9 at several venues in San Francisco, go on sale July 13 through 866-920-JAZZ and www.sfjazz.org.

This year’s lineup is impressively diverse. The cast includes young stars like Eldar and Sophie Milman; local players such as Dave Ellis and Mitch Marcus, and acclaimed vets like Archie Shepp and Jimmy Scott. Collectively, these performers will touch upon numerous jazz styles, spanning everything from straight-ahead to avant-garde and from New Orleans-bred boogie to Cuban dance music.Continue Reading →

Itâ€™s time to cue up the year that was 2007 one more time. Hereâ€™s our list of the top 10 jazz records of last year:

1, “Mi Sueno,â€™â€™ Ibrahim Ferrer (World Circuit/Nonesuch)
The title translates to “My Dream,â€™â€™ a reference to Ferrerâ€™s lifelong ambition to record an entire album of boleros. That dream remained just that for decades, due to a widely held belief in the industry that his voice wasnâ€™t the right fit for the deeply romantic style of Latin music, but then he finally got the chance to record such an album.

Unfortunately, the Cuban vocalist _ who came to fame as part of the “Buena Vista Social Clubâ€™â€™ documentary film and recordings _ would die of multiple organ failure in 2005 before he could put the finishing touches on the album. From his deathbed, as the story goes, the 78-year-old star dictated a letter asking that “Mi Suenoâ€™â€™ be completed in his absence.

Two years later, the album finally surfaces and itâ€™s nothing less than an absolute dream recording for Latin music lovers. The tracks are all breathtaking and Ferrerâ€™s performance, in my mind, further cements his place among the very best singers in history. “Mi Suenoâ€™â€™ is a work of understated elegance, yet bursting with romance, and itâ€™s the single greatest new disc _ of any genre _ that I heard in 2007.

2, “Tuesday Wonderland,â€™â€™ Esbjorn Svensson Trio (Spamboolimbo/Decca)
Like clockwork, the Esborn Svennsson Trio releases a new album and then, a few months later, it winds up on my yearend Top 10 list. E.S.T. is my current pick for the best piano trio in the jazz game, a position it has held ever since drummer Jorge Rosse left Brad Mehldauâ€™s group. All the things that make this threesome so special _ the unparalleled drama found in the music, the cohesiveness and adventurousness of the playing, the compositions that defy easy classification and the gentle builds that somehow climax with tsunami-like force _ can all be found in abundance on “Tuesday Wonderland.â€™â€™

3, “Cyrus Plays Elvis,â€™â€™ Cyrus Chestnut (Koch)
Itâ€™s a bit of a mystery why jazzers shy away from the Elvis songbook. Perhaps itâ€™s the campier elements commonly associated with the King _ his flamboyant white suits, his reign in glitzy Vegas, the abundance of corny impersonators, etc. _ that have kept so many serious jazz musicians at bay. Thatâ€™s a shame, since the Kingâ€™s signature songs all possess instantly recognizable and catchy melodies that are ripe for interpretation into instrumental jazz-speak. Pianist Chestnut illustrates that point in very convincing fashion with this glorious batch of jazzy Elvis standards. Thereâ€™s no weak link in the chain, but the albumâ€™s strongest moments come during such ballads as “Canâ€™t Help Falling in Loveâ€™â€™ and “In the Ghetto.â€™â€™

4, “Live at Tonic,â€™â€™ Marco Benevento (Ropeadope)
The keyboardist is best known for being one half of the Benevento/Russo Duo, a progressive jazz-rock combo along the lines of Medeski Martin and Wood that has found great acceptance in the jam-band world. That could change if he keeps putting out solo records as profoundly enjoyable as “Live at Tonic.â€™â€™ This three-disc concert offering, recorded at the New York City bastion of experimental music, features Benevento and such friends as Phishâ€™s Mike Gordon tearing through some remarkably diverse sets of music. The compositions range from Benny Goodmanâ€™s “Moonglowâ€™â€™ to Pink Floydâ€™s “Fearlessâ€™â€™ and from Leonard Cohenâ€™s “Seems So Long Ago Nancyâ€™â€™ to Thelonious Monkâ€™s “Bye Ya,â€™â€™ yet the album is as coherent of an artistic statement as any made last year.

5, “Back East,â€™â€™ Joshua Redman (Nonesuch)
The Berkeley-born saxophonist shuffles the deck in a new way and still manages to deal straight aces. Having experimented with electric groove jazz in recent years, while pulling double duty as the leader of the all-star SFJAZZ Collective, Redman now pays tribute to one of his biggest influences, tenor great Sonny Rollins, in this collection of acoustic trio works. The result is Redmanâ€™s best album since 2001â€™s monumental “Passage of Time.â€™â€™

6, “Dear Miles,â€™â€™ Ron Carter (Blue Note)
The legendary bassist _ who plucked alongside saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock and drummer Tony Williams in Miles Davisâ€™ “Second Great Quintetâ€™â€™ _ pays his respect to his former boss on “Dear Miles.â€™â€™ Davis often referred to Carter as the “anchorâ€™â€™ of that quintet, which many now call the greatest ensemble in the history of jazz, and the bassist has only gotten better over the years. This collection is as heartfelt a tribute as I heard all year, as the bassist lovingly serves up “My Funny Valentine,â€™â€™ “Someday My Prince Will Come” and other staples of the Davis repertoire.

7, “Camp Meeting,â€™â€™ Bruce Hornsby, Christian McBride and Jack DeJohnette (Legacy)
The pop star left nothing to chance when he decided it was time to make a splash in the jazz world. He called upon two of the most potent position players in the game _ McBride and DeJohnette _ to form what would be a rock-solid rhythm section. With two-thirds of a great trio in place, Hornsby rises to the occasion and delivers what some would dub shockingly assured jazz piano work. That doesnâ€™t shock me, since Iâ€™ve long believed that Hornsby ranks among most versatile pianists in the business. If you need further proof, just listen to the fine bluegrass album “Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby,â€™â€™ which also hit shelves in 2007.

8, “This Meets That,â€™â€™ John Scofield (Emarcy)
The albumâ€™s title means what it says, and youâ€™ll find a little bit of everything _ and then some _ on “This Meets That.â€™â€™ Scofield has always been one of jazz musicâ€™s greatest swashbucklers, a tireless adventurer ever in search of new sonic treasures, and he cracks a pirateâ€™s chest of gold here. The guitarist is like a kid in a candy store as he fills his bag with bits of horn-driven R&B, swampy funk, fusion jazz and old-time rock â€˜nâ€™ roll. The result doesnâ€™t ever sound jumbled or forced, which is a testament to Scoâ€™s artist vision, even when he makes a seemingly oddball choice like covering the Charlie Rich country hit “Behind Closed Doors.â€™â€™

9, “Indian Summer,â€™â€™ Dave Brubeck (Telarc)
This remarkable collection of solo piano works becomes even more remarkable once you know its back story. Brubeck went into the studio in much pain, having injured his leg only days prior, and proceeded to knock out 72 minutes of music in a little over five hours (that included, reportedly, a break for lunch). There were no second takes. This Concord native, one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time, makes me proud to call the Bay Area home.

10, “Breakfast on the Morning Tram,â€™â€™ Stacey Kent (Blue Note)
On her Blue Note debut, Kent produces a work of seemingly effortless grace and sophistication. Her vocal approach is both refined and restrained, two things that are of dreadfully short supply in modern jazz recordings, as she artfully mixes new tunes with old favorites like “What a Wonderful World.â€™â€™ This is the album that should finally establish Kent among the top tier of female jazz vocalists.